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Stop Press - View On Oft/bank Announcement
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It was the case that the FO wouldn't take on a case that was lost in court, I don't think having a case stayed is the same, give it a go!
How does the Ombudsman work?
When the FOS receives your complaint its job is to settle the argument and come to a decision about your case. It does this by going to the bank in question and asking it about the case. If the bank does not agree to make the payment to you, the Ombudsman may carry out a formal investigation. Yet in the case of bank charges, there have been no reports of this happening, so you have a very good chance of getting what you asked for. The worst possible case scenario (which has never occurred) would be an investigation was carried out and you didn’t get any money.If for some reason you’re not happy with the FOS’s decision, you do not have to accept it and you can then start court action if you would like. However if you do accept the Ombudsman's decision, it is binding on both you and your bank (meaning your bank can’t appeal and has to pay you back) and if you have already been to court and have lost you’re not usually allowed to then take your case to the FOS afterwards.0 -
another question that puzzles me....how come we as Claimants have to abide by all Directions given by the Court or we may be struck out, yet the Defendants can blatantly disregard Court directions and still get a stay applied???0
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No, Jester is correct, the FOS will not get involved in a case which is going through the court process. It is logical enough, as a court decision will overrule a FOS decision anyway.0
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EdinburghLass,
My understanding of this whole situation is that the FO will not touch a case that has gone through the court process - stayed or not.
Correct me if I am wrong, but that is my understanding
If a credit card case has been stayed, the FOS will take it on, but only if you cancel your court case.
They offered to do it for me.0 -
MSE_Martin wrote: »I have just added the following Stop Press note to the bank charges article:
[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]EMERGENCY STOP PRESS NOTE. 26 July 2007[/FONT]
In a surprise announcement the Office of Fair Trading has announced it has agreed to a test case with seven major banks to decide the principles of reclaiming in the High Court. At the same time the regulator the FSA has said banks no longer need deal with complaints; the Ombudsmen is likely to suspend dealing with them too, and a request will go to the Master of the Rolls that all courts suspend current cases until we’ve had a test case. See the detailed Channel 4 news video of the piece (in which I was interviewed just after the news broke)
Why weren’t we told?
This was all agreed when the announcement broke this evening (a day before it was due to because of a leak). The documentation says consumer groups will be consulted; yet why was this fait accompli announced without any consultation?
Over a million people are reclaiming using this site, and hundreds of thousands through sites like Consumer Action Group, however as far as I am aware so far, none of the consumer groups were consulted before this was done. Why weren’t the people who’ve been driving this campaign asked for a view?
What should be done?
This has saved the banks an estimated £200 million in reclaims by the end of the year. After all the vast majority of people who tried got their cash. While I welcome a test case, the effective moratorium is a worry.
I hope the result of this is not “we get a decision that bank charges are illegal and they must pay out if asked” after all that’d be little better than the situation we’ve had until now; what we need to know is that if we win and bank charges are deemed unlawfully high, the banks will be told by the regulator “you took people’s money from their accounts without asking, something even the taxman can’t do, so you must give it back to everyone without being asked.” This isn’t chicken feed, it could cost the banks £10 billion.
What should you do if you’re reclaiming or planning to?
This shock announcement has left a confusing situation. What about people currently in the process? What about those who’ve been offered a payout (whether they’ve accepted or turned it down)? What about those for whom their claim was around 6 years ago and thus the statute of limitations means the delay will count their claim out?
Frankly, as yet I don’t have an answer. Yet I do intend to find out and will of course publish it in detail here. If you want those answers, please ensure you get the weekly MoneySaving e-mail where I will attempt to keep you updated.
Martin
PS If there are other outstanding questions please report them below (note these shouldn't be individual questions, but notes of principle I can get confirmed).
hi wots happened to the banks disclosing there charges on the 28th september. has everyone forgot0 -
hiya everyone not been on since i got my case stayed just wondering if anything new has come up and when we all expect an end to this?0
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i have recently heard that some banks are refunding charges to students and people who are experiencing hardship. has anyone else heard this??
thanks0 -
Hi, I have lost my account details for 2 lapsed accounts. How would I get these?0
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i have recently heard that some banks are refunding charges to students and people who are experiencing hardship. has anyone else heard this??
thanks
Make claim in the normal way, but point out that you are claiming under the hardship rule, which gives banks 8 weeks to sort it.
If not, goto the financial ombudsman.0
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